Crappy alt-country at SXSW (was Re: Updates

[Don Yates]

 If you were to ask any hard working country musician the difference they
 would  tell you its all about the sincerity of the performer. Any 99%
 percent of these bands got no heart.

And this is the only part of the anonymous diatribe that I might disagree
with, or at least amend.  It's not *all* about the sincerity.  There are
also some awfully sincere alt-country bands that are just, well, awful.
No doubt that white-trash minstrel show shit rubs me the wrong way, but
I'm also not a fan of the painfully earnest ones who have nothin' else
goin' for 'em except their sincerity.  Dull as dirt is not much better
than a superficial schtick.  Anyway, it's too bad the person who wrote
that essay spent so much time with the cartoon crowd down there -- he/she
must've missed James Hand, Justin Trevino, Don Walser, Paul Burch, Dale
Watson and all the other hardcore traditionalists types that played this
year.--don

Re: Crappy alt-country at SXSW (was Re: Updates

[Ph. Barnard]

Yeah, Don I can agree with most of this critique in general terms, 
until we get to the sincerity bit.  As I've said so many times, the 
"sincerity" argument never gets it for me.  But I'm certainly all for 
more musicianship and less scenester 'tude

--junior

Re: Crappy alt-country at SXSW

[Don Yates]

And here's my own version of Anonymous's alt-country rant, posted to P2
way back in '97.  Looks like I also didn't name names in this one, but
those who were around back then may remember some folks that I was railin'
against at the time.g  I believe Mr. Weisberger may also have 
alt-country rant or two in the archives...--don

-- Forwarded message --
Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 22:22:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Don Yates [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: It's A Mighty Thin Line Between Love And Hate 

I'm beginning to wonder if the buzz about alternative country is nothing
more than a plot to make the world once again safe for Poco.  Not a day
passes it seems without some stale folk-rock record ending up on my desk,
accompanied by obnoxious press material claiming the harmless mediocrity
in question is the true inheritor of the Hank Williams legacy.  Shania
Twain has more Hank in her than most of that impotent shit.  Combine those
somnolent folk-rockers (and their acoustic coffeehouse brethren) with
college rockers pretending they're the salt of the earth (when they're not
using country music as a weapon of ridicule against the working class),
and sooner or later, it's bound to generate a backlash -- and a
well-deserved one at that.  The Bottle Rockets, Gillian Welch and Dale
Watson are OK by me, but as for the alternative country movement, I hope
it soon withers away, before the glut of mediocrity discourages talented
artists from making innovative, heartfelt music on the margins of country
music.  Bah, humbug.--don

n.p. Johnny Paycheck -- Sings Jukebox Charlie